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Credit limit & score
Your credit limit
To check the amount you need to repay, credit limit and how much credit you have available, please log in to the mobile app or your Online Account Manager or look at the summary of your account section on your statement.
If you're eligible for an Aqua card, you might be offered an initial credit limit ranging from £250 to £1500. There's no guarantee of getting the maximum credit limit. Depending on how you use your card, we may be able to increase your credit limit after a few months.
Managing your account
It’s a good idea to keep your balance under 95% of your credit limit. For example, if your credit limit is £1000, try to stay below £950.
It’s important to remember that it’s not just things you buy with your credit card that can take you over your credit limit. Interest and charges can also mount up if they’re applied to your balance.
Also, when you use your credit card to buy something, the payment may not clear straight away. For example, if you buy clothes online the payment may only clear once your parcel’s been dispatched. This type of charge could take you over your credit limit when you weren’t expecting it.
If you register for our free alerts, we’ll send you a message when you’re getting close to your credit limit.
If you do go over your credit limit you may be charged a £12 fee, which you’ll see on your next statement.
It’s important to remember that it’s not just things you buy with your credit card that can take you over your credit limit. Interest and charges can also mount up if they’re applied to your balance.
Also, when you use your credit card to buy something, the payment may not clear straight away. For example, if you buy clothes online the payment may only clear once your parcel’s been dispatched. This type of charge could take you over your credit limit when you weren’t expecting it.
If you register for our free alerts, we’ll send you a message when you’re getting close to your credit limit.
If you do go over your credit limit you may be charged a £12 fee, which you’ll see on your next statement.
If you go over your agreed credit limit, you’ll need to make a repayment as soon as you can to bring your balance back under your limit.
If your balance stays over your credit limit:
• You may be charged a £12 fee for every month you’re over your limit, plus extra interest
• You won’t be able to use your card until your balance is under your credit limit again
• You’ll lose any promotional rates you had
• We may need to let the credit reference agencies know you’re over your limit, which could affect your credit score
We’re here to support you
If you’re struggling to make your payments, please chat with our friendly team in the Aqua Mastercard app. We can look at options for you.
We know that managing money isn’t always easy and sometimes extra help is needed. There are a range of organisations that offer free, independent money guidance and debt advice:
StepChange 0800 138 1111 Debt advice and fee-free debt management
Money Helper 0800 011 3797 Information and tools to help manage your money
Citizens Advice 0808 223 1133 Advice on finances, consumer rights, benefits and more
National Debt Line 0808 808 4000 Debt advice, including specialist advice for self employed
If your balance stays over your credit limit:
• You may be charged a £12 fee for every month you’re over your limit, plus extra interest
• You won’t be able to use your card until your balance is under your credit limit again
• You’ll lose any promotional rates you had
• We may need to let the credit reference agencies know you’re over your limit, which could affect your credit score
We’re here to support you
If you’re struggling to make your payments, please chat with our friendly team in the Aqua Mastercard app. We can look at options for you.
We know that managing money isn’t always easy and sometimes extra help is needed. There are a range of organisations that offer free, independent money guidance and debt advice:
StepChange 0800 138 1111 Debt advice and fee-free debt management
Money Helper 0800 011 3797 Information and tools to help manage your money
Citizens Advice 0808 223 1133 Advice on finances, consumer rights, benefits and more
National Debt Line 0808 808 4000 Debt advice, including specialist advice for self employed
Managing your credit limit
We want to make sure that your credit card payments remain affordable, which is why we felt it necessary to reduce your credit limit at this time.
Yes, you can ask for your credit limit to be increased or decreased. As a responsible lender, we monitor accounts on an ongoing basis to see how you're getting on and consider what is affordable before increasing a credit limit. It's important that you make at least your contractual minimum payment on time every month and keep within your credit limit as this may affect our decision.
We recommend that you make at least the Payment Requested shown on your statement each month. We need to see that an account is well managed and payments are made on time over a number of months before we can offer you a credit limit increase. You can reduce your credit limit at any time, simply call us.
We recommend that you make at least the Payment Requested shown on your statement each month. We need to see that an account is well managed and payments are made on time over a number of months before we can offer you a credit limit increase. You can reduce your credit limit at any time, simply call us.
It's important that you make at least your contractual minimum payment on time every month and keep within your credit limit as this may affect our decision. We recommend that you make at least the Payment Requested shown in your statement each month. We need to see that an account is well managed and payments are made on time over a number of months before we will consider increasing your credit limit.
Managing your preferences
You can do this online using the mobile app or your Online Account Manager. You can choose from one of the following options:
Automatically: we will tell you about credit limit increases and activate them automatically unless you tell us not to.
Let me know: we'll offer you a credit limit increase but you must contact us to accept it. No increases: we won't offer you credit limit increases at any time, unless you change your preferences.
Automatically: we will tell you about credit limit increases and activate them automatically unless you tell us not to.
Let me know: we'll offer you a credit limit increase but you must contact us to accept it. No increases: we won't offer you credit limit increases at any time, unless you change your preferences.
Your credit history & credit score
If you continue to pay your contractual minimum payment (which now includes a PayDown Plan monthly instalment), your credit score won't be impacted due to having a PayDown Plan. If you are over limit you should try to get your account back under limit as quickly as possible as having a balance that is higher than your credit limit could affect your credit scores negatively.
Brought to you by TransUnion, the Credit Score Simulator helps you understand what to do – and what not to do – to keep your score healthy.It works by looking at your credit report and exploring how, by taking various actions, you might move your credit score up or down.Keep in mind that it’s just an educational tool, though. So there’s no guarantee your score will move the way it suggests, as other factors might come into play.
Your credit report gives you a detailed summary of your credit history. The credit report you can find in your Aqua Mastercard app is powered by TransUnion.It includes things like:
Simply tap ‘raise a dispute’ next to any item you want to report, and you’ll receive a reply from TransUnion within 28 days.
- Your current and past credit products and borrowing
- Your payment history
- Public records such as any insolvencies or bankruptcies
- A list of organisations that have asked to see your credit report
Simply tap ‘raise a dispute’ next to any item you want to report, and you’ll receive a reply from TransUnion within 28 days.
Aqua Coach
Aqua Coach is your credit building tool, found in the More menu of your Aqua app. Aqua Coach provides you with access to your credit score information (powered by TransUnion), as well as credit management tools to help you be better with credit.
Aqua Coach is a free benefit of your Aqua card.
Accessing your credit score via Aqua Coach does not impact your credit score. To refresh your credit score Aqua will perform a ‘soft search’, which may be visible to you in your credit report, however it is not visible to lenders and does not impact your credit score.
If you are trying to register, you may be unable to access your credit score due to one of the following reasons:i)If you have recently changed your name or address it may be that there is no credit data currently held under the name or address we are attempting to retrieve your score for. If you are directed to check your personal details, please check your full name, address and date of birth are correct and up to date with Aqua. It is also worth updating your personal details with other lenders too.ii) TransUnion may not be able to find enough credit history on you to provide a credit score this time. This could be because you do not have a lot of history with credit products; perhaps you are new to credit or you haven’t had any credit products in your name for some time. Having a limited amount of credit and keeping your accounts up to date can help you build up a credit profile. However, you shouldn’t simply apply for credit you don’t need, or take out any credit if you will not be able to repay it. If you are already registered and can’t access your refreshed credit score, there may be a temporary problem with the app. We will do our best to get the service up and running again as soon as we can, and apologise for the inconvenience. Please note, lenders share updates with Credit Reference Agencies every 4-6 weeks, and so if you have only recently opened credit accounts or updated your name or address, it may take up to 4-6 weeks for this service to be available to you.
The first time you open ‘Credit Score’ in the app, we’ll ask you to accept our terms and conditions. That’s so we can send a few details like your name, address and date of birth to our partner TransUnion (one of the UK’s major credit reference agencies) to find your credit file.Once a month, we update the app to show your latest score by carrying out a ‘soft search’ of your credit file. This will show up on your credit report – but it’s not visible to lenders and doesn’t change your credit score.
To remove the TransUnion features from Aqua Coach, go to the Aqua Coach area in your Aqua app via the More tab. Then click on the Settings icon at the top right of your screen, and click the TransUnion toggle.
Your credit report gives you a detailed summary of your credit history. The credit report you can find in your Aqua Mastercard app is powered by TransUnion.It includes things like:
Simply tap ‘raise a dispute’ next to any item you want to report, and you’ll receive a reply from TransUnion within 28 days.Some of the details on my credit report don’t look right – what should I do?
Simply tap ‘raise a dispute’ next to any item you want to report, and you’ll receive a reply from TransUnion within 28 days.
- Your current and past credit products and borrowing
- Your payment history
- Public records such as any insolvencies or bankruptcies
- A list of organisations that have asked to see your credit report
Simply tap ‘raise a dispute’ next to any item you want to report, and you’ll receive a reply from TransUnion within 28 days.Some of the details on my credit report don’t look right – what should I do?
Simply tap ‘raise a dispute’ next to any item you want to report, and you’ll receive a reply from TransUnion within 28 days.
The information held on your Credit Report is powered by TransUnion. TransUnion receive this data from the courts, local councils, and your lenders. If something doesn’t look quite right, then TransUnion can query the data accuracy with the data provider. All you have to do is a raise a dispute, and where you are prompted to do so, supply evidence to support your dispute. If you would like to raise a dispute, first access your report in Aqua Coach by clicking ‘Credit Report’. Find the relevant information that doesn’t look correct, and next to this information click ‘Raise a dispute’ and follow the steps. You will then receive a response from TransUnion within 28 days.
TransUnion is part of a global organisation and is one of the three main credit reference agencies in the UK. To find out more about TransUnion, please go to https://www.transunion.co.uk/about-us.
It’s a good idea to keep track of your credit score and how it changes, as this indicates how lenders view your credit history and your relationship with credit.The higher your score, the more comfortable lenders feel that you’ll repay any money you borrow. So, having a higher score means you’re more likely to be offered the best credit deals and interest rates.You can view your credit score free of charge whenever you like in the John Lewis Credit Card app – without affecting it.